Disney Free Dining gone by 2020

[DaniMoon]

I've seen so much negative about FD and how it isn't a savings that when the discounts came out on Tuesday and my dates didn't match for FD, I didn't bother looking for a Visa Cardholder option, but I was able to change room categories and save $200. Later in the day I saw that the Visa Card discount included my dates for FD, I still thought, well with all the negatives on the boards and Facebook, it won't work for me.

Well, curiosity got the better of me. I checked out the FD offer, I'm at POP so it's the QS offer. Approx $500 more than what my current package was (I already had hoppers) -- we will be there 13 nights. I don't think even with being frugal, and being on property the whole time that the 4 of us could eat for less than that. My fault, I should have looked. Right now there is no availability at POP, and we don't want to swap resorts. So I will continue to check availability. But I am kicking myself for accepting all the "it's not free, it's not a deal, room discounts are better" comments, and that's all on me.

 

[mom2rtk]

I've seen so much negative about FD and how it isn't a savings that when the discounts came out on Tuesday and my dates didn't match for FD, I didn't bother looking for a Visa Cardholder option, but I was able to change room categories and save $200. Later in the day I saw that the Visa Card discount included my dates for FD, I still thought, well with all the negatives on the boards and Facebook, it won't work for me.

Well, curiosity got the better of me. I checked out the FD offer, I'm at POP so it's the QS offer. Approx $500 more than what my current package was (I already had hoppers) -- we will be there 13 nights. I don't think even with being frugal, and being on property the whole time that the 4 of us could eat for less than that. My fault, I should have looked. Right now there is no availability at POP, and we don't want to swap resorts. So I will continue to check availability. But I am kicking myself for accepting all the "it's not free, it's not a deal, room discounts are better" comments, and that's all on me.

You have to understand many of the people who say it's not a deal stay at a deluxe where the rack room rate is much higher. Or they have fewer people in the room, which makes the value of the free food less (since they're feeding fewer people). Always do the math for yourself. It's not the deal it used to be, but it still might work out in specific situations.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So I will continue to check availability. But I am kicking myself for accepting all the "it's not free, it's not a deal, room discounts are better" comments, and that's all on me.

As with anything advice can only be for so much.

I tell someone I always get park hoppers and it's about the only thing extra I'm willing to pay for (I also get park-to-park tickets at Universal) but I say this is what we personally do look and see if it would work for you. We drove to the parks all 5 days in September didn't have an issue, add to that we get a rental car whenever we go on vacation (aside from St. Lucia, NYC), we don't care about TS (it was nice to eat at the 3 places but it by no means would have ruined our vacation if we didn't), etc.

I understand you say it's all on you-just as a cautionary tale if you will-if you never actually did the math yourself and looked at your individual party and their eating habits, etc then it's one of those take with a grain of salt just like the others.

Per this thread: https://www.disboards.com/threads/2018-disney-dining-plan-prices-general-discussion.3612557/ QS Dining Plan has an approximate price of $52.50 per person per night ages 10+ and $21.75 per person per night ages 3-9.

 

[Devil13]

This exactly...I know I was in no way trying to "demean" people or criticize people who use the dining plan or get free dining. I used the dining plan for three trips before I sat down and did the math to see how it would actually work out. What led me to sit down and figure it out was (1) We had so many leftover snacks (and this was when you just got 1 snack a day...now you get 2!), (2) We felt that at times we were eating because we had to use the meal credits, not because we were really all that hungry, and (3) the amount of food we ended up not eating/wasting. To me these message boards are places to share our experiences so people can learn from them. It's why people encourage people to do the math on the RO vs. the free dining - not to criticize, but to try and be helpful. At the end of the day, people should do what is best for them. The dining plan certainly is convenient and it's nice to not have to worry about paying for food (and far less of a sticker shock when you realize how much each individual meal is costing you), it's just not worth hundreds of extra dollars for us.

Also...as to the talk of Disney "doing away" with the free dining promotion...I think they will keep it. In the end, I think they make money from it.

Apologizing for the use of the word demean - I'm sure that wasn't anyone's intention.

That being said, Anti-Diners are aggressively outspoken on their opposition to this promotion and wishing some good money saving away for others.

Also think this is a fun topic due to some of the strong feelings on both sides.

For full disclosure here's my situation:
4 Disney adults (kids are 11 and 13)
9 nights with one room at Boardwalk
I tracked table service dinners the last 3 years at ~200 a meal

Taking just that into account, free dining wins without even counting any snacks or QS when compared to a 30% RO discount.

Sure I could just not eat as much, not go to places that expensive, not bring the kids, not go at all, stay a different place, get more rooms etc. and those would all make things different but that's how we typically do Disney.

 

[Roxyfire]

Apologizing for the use of the word demean - I'm sure that wasn't anyone's intention.

That being said, Anti-Diners are aggressively outspoken on their opposition to this promotion and wishing some good money saving away for others.

Also think this is a fun topic due to some of the strong feelings on both sides.

For full disclosure here's my situation:
4 Disney adults (kids are 11 and 13)
9 nights with one room at Boardwalk
I tracked table service dinners the last 3 years at ~200 a meal

Taking just that into account, free dining wins without even counting any snacks or QS when compared to a 30% RO discount.

Sure I could just not eat as much, not go to places that expensive, not bring the kids, not go at all, stay a different place, get more rooms etc. and those would all make things different but that's how we typically do Disney.

I'm definitely not a fan of the paid dining plan for myself for a multitude of reasons. But I think with free dining it ends up being one of those things that people rationalize away because it seems like a good deal, especially with the QS plan being the baseline at Values and Moderates. People tend to overstate the discount especially once the upgrades and requirements start rolling in.

If someone does the math and it works then hey good for them. I just don't think it's automatically a $51 per adult per day discount.

 

[JimmyBean42]

While the focus is on Free Dining going away in the future mainly because rooms will be booked early and often to coincide with Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge openign (and the 50th), then the same could potentially be said for room-only discounts. You could see lower %'s across all hotels or only rack rate being offered if people are booking early enough.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Apologizing for the use of the word demean - I'm sure that wasn't anyone's intention.

That being said, Anti-Diners are aggressively outspoken on their opposition to this promotion and wishing some good money saving away for others.

Also think this is a fun topic due to some of the strong feelings on both sides.

For full disclosure here's my situation:
4 Disney adults (kids are 11 and 13)
9 nights with one room at Boardwalk
I tracked table service dinners the last 3 years at ~200 a meal

Taking just that into account, free dining wins without even counting any snacks or QS when compared to a 30% RO discount.

Sure I could just not eat as much, not go to places that expensive, not bring the kids, not go at all, stay a different place, get more rooms etc. and those would all make things different but that's how we typically do Disney.

People aren't sacrificing when they aren't buying the Dining Plan just by virtue of not buying it or not doing the promotion (speaking towards your last part of the above comment).

You have to consider many things like discounted tickets you can get, hopper add on requirement, how much you really think you're going to spend on food and drink, etc. If you're only considering the cost of the dining plan if it wasn't included compared to it being included and looking at what room only discount gets you well then you really haven't done the math.

Just as an example from out 2017 trip:
~We bought discounted park hopper tickets from UT back in 2016 but at the 2015 prices UT had

~We applied a room only discount and because Standard room was not available at that time for the promotion 'upgraded' to a Preferred room but with a savings of $83.53 from the rack rate of the Standard room already booked (a discounted Standard room rate would have been something like $200+ difference).

~We spent $55.38 (includes tax excludes tip) at Skipper Canteen (includes a dessert), $52.19 (includes tax excludes tip) at 50s Prime Time and $56.45 (includes tax excludes tip) at Mama Melrose (which was slightly higher because we each had a beer). We ordered what we wanted at those places. Now we did have water at Skipper Canteen and 50s Prime Time but we went in September it was hot and we wanted to stay hydrated. Mama Melrose we didn't have a bunch of rides or being out in the sun much after we were eating dinner.

• The approximate value of the regular Dining Plan (which gets you the 1 TS credit per day) at 2017 prices was $69.36 pp per night (ETA I know the regular Dining Plan includes snack and QS meal but it is still calculated per person costs). We had 5 days at WDW and did 3 TS meals total. You can see where it wouldn't have worked out for us at all. We spent less for 2 people than the regular Dining Plan would have allotted for 2 people (ETA: even including the QS meal and snacks other food we got throughout the day was significantly less than what would have been allotted for 2 people if we had done the Dining Plan). We didn't change our eating habits, we went to places we were geniunely interested in, and when we vacation during hot times of the year we do opt for water mostly as a health thing.
• But I know without a doubt people don't always look into menu pricing, they don't always go to WDW's website and look at all the places they may want to eat and get an idea of what you may want to eat, and if you're looking at it from a pure financial standpoint doing that stuff allows you to actually see if the Dining Plan (paid or with promotion) would actually work out for you.
• The rest of our meals were QS and still nowhere near the $48.19 that was the 2017 price of the QS dining plan.

~We would have lost a lot of money had we done the promotion not only because of the other discounts elsewhere we got but because eating wise we wouldn't have come close to the estimated $48.19 (2017 pricing) pp per day QS one.

Now things are a tad different since Disney implemented the expiration dates on park tickets that affected multi-day too so you wouldn't be able to buy park tickets as early as we would have before but still.

The free dining promotion requires you to purchase things at full-price (non-discounted room rate, non-discounted park tickets, upgrades to park hopper, restricted type of dining plan based on your resort category). Those are important aspects when looking at it from cost-savings promotions.

 

[portcityw]

While the focus is on Free Dining going away in the future mainly because rooms will be booked early and often to coincide with Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge openign (and the 50th), then the same could potentially be said for room-only discounts. You could see lower %'s across all hotels or only rack rate being offered if people are booking early enough.

I don't see why they even offer discounts anymore, based on crowd sizes these days.

 

[Moliphino]

We did the math a few years ago and it was only about $200 more for the free dining package over RO discount + discounted tickets (we always get hoppers anyway). We would definitely eat more than $200 worth of food over a 5 night trip, so we went for the free dining. We'll run the numbers again this year once RO discounts for December are released, but for now I have a free dining package. I won't pay for a dining plan since it's way more food than I need (or even want, really), but I'll do free dining if it works out to be the best discount.

 

[Devil13]

People aren't sacrificing when they aren't buying the Dining Plan just by virtue of not buying it or not doing the promotion (speaking towards your last part of the above comment).

You have to consider many things like discounted tickets you can get, hopper add on requirement, how much you really think you're going to spend on food and drink, etc. If you're only considering the cost of the dining plan if it wasn't included compared to it being included and looking at what room only discount gets you well then you really haven't done the math.

Just as an example from out 2017 trip:
~We bought discounted park hopper tickets from UT back in 2016 but at the 2015 prices UT had

~We applied a room only discount and because Standard room was not available at that time for the promotion 'upgraded' to a Preferred room but with a savings of $83.53 from the rack rate of the Standard room already booked (a discounted Standard room rate would have been something like $200+ difference).

~We spent $55.38 (includes tax excludes tip) at Skipper Canteen (includes a dessert), $52.19 (includes tax excludes tip) at 50s Prime Time and $56.45 (includes tax excludes tip) at Mama Melrose (which was slightly higher because we each had a beer). We ordered what we wanted at those places. Now we did have water at Skipper Canteen and 50s Prime Time but we went in September it was hot and we wanted to stay hydrated. Mama Melrose we didn't have a bunch of rides or being out in the sun much after we were eating dinner.

• The approximate value of the regular Dining Plan (which gets you the 1 TS credit per day) at 2017 prices was $69.36 pp per night (ETA I know the regular Dining Plan includes snack and QS meal but it is still calculated per person costs). We had 5 days at WDW and did 3 TS meals total. You can see where it wouldn't have worked out for us at all. We spent less for 2 people than the regular Dining Plan would have allotted for 2 people (ETA: even including the QS meal and snacks other food we got throughout the day was significantly less than what would have been allotted for 2 people if we had done the Dining Plan). We didn't change our eating habits, we went to places we were geniunely interested in, and when we vacation during hot times of the year we do opt for water mostly as a health thing.
• But I know without a doubt people don't always look into menu pricing, they don't always go to WDW's website and look at all the places they may want to eat and get an idea of what you may want to eat, and if you're looking at it from a pure financial standpoint doing that stuff allows you to actually see if the Dining Plan (paid or with promotion) would actually work out for you.
• The rest of our meals were QS and still nowhere near the $48.19 that was the 2017 price of the QS dining plan.

~We would have lost a lot of money had we done the promotion not only because of the other discounts elsewhere we got but because eating wise we wouldn't have come close to the estimated $48.19 (2017 pricing) pp per day QS one.

Now things are a tad different since Disney implemented the expiration dates on park tickets that affected multi-day too so you wouldn't be able to buy park tickets as early as we would have before but still.

The free dining promotion requires you to purchase things at full-price (non-discounted room rate, non-discounted park tickets, upgrades to park hopper, restricted type of dining plan based on your resort category). Those are important aspects when looking at it from cost-savings promotions.

100% agree

I was comparing how we dine to what a RO discount would be for our stay. I'm pretty sure that buying the dining plan wouldn't work out for us economically. Parkhoppers are so important that I wouldn't even go there without them, so that's not even a topic when calculating it into the cost. Again, that's just me.

Changing party size, hotel category or restaurant choices completely changes things and if you go outside of Disney to buy park tickets/hotel/etc. that changes things even more.

 

[Doug M]

We did the math a few years ago and it was only about $200 more for the free dining package over RO discount + discounted tickets (we always get hoppers anyway). We would definitely eat more than $200 worth of food over a 5 night trip, so we went for the free dining. We'll run the numbers again this year once RO discounts for December are released, but for now I have a free dining package. I won't pay for a dining plan since it's way more food than I need (or even want, really), but I'll do free dining if it works out to be the best discount.

Did you compare FD package directly to the RO or RO savings per night vs your expected OOP expense for food? That is the comparison i do. That way i see if the room discount is more than what i think food costs will be. If that discount beats the food costs it is better. Also add in any extras you have to buy if those would apply to you like PH or cheaper tickets.

 

[kandb]

I have to disagree. We booked Bounce Back for this coming September and the offer was free dining. We did CL at CR. We will grab a bite in the morning at the lounge ( we're not big breakfast people ) and use a QS credit for lunch and a TS credit for dinner plus the free snacks. We can actually go our whole stay and spend nothing on food. I think it's a great deal! At least it is for us.

Why do CL and Free Dining? If you are going with free dining, why pay for CL? Just wondering, as CL is so much more expensive.

 

[BabybetterDisney]

To quote Dad: the only time you should get free dining is if you can get it free. I completely agree with him.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

Why do CL and Free Dining? If you are going with free dining, why pay for CL? Just wondering, as CL is so much more expensive.

We did the Bounce back offer which was the Magic My Way Package with Free Dining. At first we just booked a standard room with Theme Park View at the Contemporary Sept 6th - 17th. The extra FP+ for Club Level was announce and it got my attention. I called to get details and pricing as well as the price to upgrade our room to Atrium Club Theme Park View and got off the phone and did some math. I did some serious number crunching well into the night and what I came up with is first of all, shorten our trip by one day. Honestly 10 days is enough and we will do a park every day due to complementary tickets we received due to Irma. So by taking off one day and we grab free breakfast in the lounge every morning, we save enough money to pay for the upgrade to CL and with the Dining Plan we can have a QS lunch and TS dinner every day as well as snacks. I came up with right at $40 for breakfast every day which would have been $400 over our entire stay plus the $682 saved from removing one night we actually save money. Since we did the Magic My Way package it was only $72 a night to upgrade to CL which gives us over $300 to go towards the extra FP+. Now if we decide to do more than 2 days of the extra FP's of course it will cost us a little more than the original trip but we will probably break even since the lounge provides us with free adult beverages plus the snacks and drinks for the kids too.

 

[DaniMoon]

So we switched resorts to AS Sports and took the FD promotion there. It was $242 more than my room discount for our stay at POP (we already had hoppers). We will be there 13 nights. So $242 more than we were originally paying, yeah we had to change resorts, but I think my kids are more excited about a change in hotels and the sports theming. We love POP and I was hoping for a refurbed room, but couldn't pass up the deal.

 

[kandb]

We did the Bounce back offer which was the Magic My Way Package with Free Dining. At first we just booked a standard room with Theme Park View at the Contemporary Sept 6th - 17th. The extra FP+ for Club Level was announce and it got my attention. I called to get details and pricing as well as the price to upgrade our room to Atrium Club Theme Park View and got off the phone and did some math. I did some serious number crunching well into the night and what I came up with is first of all, shorten our trip by one day. Honestly 10 days is enough and we will do a park every day due to complementary tickets we received due to Irma. So by taking off one day and we grab free breakfast in the lounge every morning, we save enough money to pay for the upgrade to CL and with the Dining Plan we can have a QS lunch and TS dinner every day as well as snacks. I came up with right at $40 for breakfast every day which would have been $400 over our entire stay plus the $682 saved from removing one night we actually save money. Since we did the Magic My Way package it was only $72 a night to upgrade to CL which gives us over $300 to go towards the extra FP+. Now if we decide to do more than 2 days of the extra FP's of course it will cost us a little more than the original trip but we will probably break even since the lounge provides us with free adult beverages plus the snacks and drinks for the kids too.

Wow, $72/night for CL is great. We get a heavily discounted deluxe rate since we go shortly before labor day and are staying BWI/GF and I had priced CL last year and it was around $150/day for CL so I didn't book but would definitely book for $72. Sounds like a great trip. Enjoy.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

Wow, $72/night for CL is great. We get a heavily discounted deluxe rate since we go shortly before labor day and are staying BWI/GF and I had priced CL last year and it was around $150/day for CL so I didn't book but would definitely book for $72. Sounds like a great trip. Enjoy.

I think the price had to do with the Magic My Way Bounce Back package. Even now if you go to the dates we are staying it's right at $120 a night difference to upgrade so yeah I'm not complaining one bit!

 

[Farro]

We did the (not free) dining plan our last trip. I'm one of "those" people who likes it purely for the convenience aspect.

That said, we talked about it and we don't think we will get it on our next trip. There were so many appetizers I wanted. Some of I would have had as my entree. I also wasn't a fan of the desserts, I'm just not a sweets person. And then I couldn't even finish the two snacks a day! Now we did get sick last few days of trip (flu ) so we had to lose credits.

Next trip we will just put what we would pay for the dining plan on my Amex card and use that for eating and extras. A couple dinners we will use Disney Visa and get 10% off at some places (assuming it's still happening).
I truly am just a light eater and unfortunately the dining plan just doesn't work for me.

I'm even toying with the idea of doing a room only reservation and buying hoppers separately which is just so foreign to me, we always do a package! I think though it's easier to apply a room discount if it comes out if it's not a package.

 

[kandb]

Free dining is good for some families depending on how you like to vacation. If park hopping and table service meals are already things you know you want to do, then free dining can save someone a little money. The word "free" hardly ever truly means "free." You are saving some money, but you are also paying more for your room (rack rate vs. discounted rate) and for park hoppers if you weren't already planning to park hop. For example - I ran the numbers for a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 children) staying at Port Orleans Riverside for 5 nights with 4 days of park tickets (not sure of this resort is excluded this year, but the numbers would be similar at another moderate). I've also assumed the family wants to upgrade to the full dining plan. Here's how it shakes out:

FREE DINING
Room ~$270/night (average of low and high end rate for this time of year) x 5 nights = $1,350
Tickets 4 day park hoppers for 2 adults & 2 kids = $1,780
Dining upgrade to full dining plan from quick service = $270.50
TOTAL COST: $3,400.50

ROOM DISCOUNT OFFER (typically 20% off at Moderates in the fall)
Room ~$216/night x 5 nights = $1,080
Tickets 4 day, 1 park per day tickets for 2 adults & 2 kids = $1,480
Dining plan (if purchase the full dining plan) = $1,012.90
TOTAL COST: $3,542.40

So the free dining offer for a family of 4, saved a total of $142.40 by doing free dining...the dining plan is more food than most families actually need to eat (as a family of 2 we save about $200 each trip by not doing the dining plan and will save even more now that my daughter is 10 and doesn't eat adult-size portions), the room discount offer is a better deal by far.

Yes, and we never get hoppers and hoppers for our family of 5 is $400. Going to one park per day is enough for us. IMO, free dining has become a joke. Most people do not purchase a dining plan and the "free dining plan" gives people this high value when in reality if they paid for food OOP they would never spend as much money as the dining plan costs.

 

[focusondisney]

There have always been resort discounts since we started going in the early 90s. Free dining started in 2006 because: travel was still down from 9/11. In 2004, 4 hurricaine s hit Florida in 6 weeks in August & September. This kept many people away in fall of 2005. Disney introduced free dining for late August & September in 2006 to get people back during that time. It worked so they added other dates too. Disney announced they were going to "wean" the public off discounts several years ago. Now the economy has rebounded, schools have changed their break schedules spreading crowds out thru the year, travel is way up, hurricaines have only hit Florida what, once in 10 years? I was actually surprised Disney offered free dining this year.